Putting this as a comment instead of an answer because it is an opinion and I do not know if it would be allowed to be an answer. If it can be then hopefully someone will edit/convert it.
In my mind you should go with Brine. You could potentially get a good combo out of Brine if you use Toxic too. You could teach Floatzel Toxic and give it Leftovers so that it is regaining health while the opponent is losing it, and as soon as the opponent loses half of their health to Toxic use Brine. If you want another Water-type move teach it Dive since Floatzel has better physical attack anyway, and can hide underwater to avoid damage while recovering with Leftovers as the opponent loses some of their own health due to poisoning. Water Pulse has lower power than Brine even if the opponent is above half-health, the 20% chance of causing confusion isn't that reliable and isn't worth it considering it is a volatile stat condition anyway.

Yes. Dive is the best move until you get waterfall. However, toxic is not worth using because it's almost always easier to defeat opponents by simply spamming dive than using toxic. Not using toxic frees up space for more useful moves like surf, crunch, ice punch, or strength.

True. I was just trying to come up with something creative since I'm pretty sure this is for in-game rather than competitive. Though there are certainly a ton of other Pokemon that can pull off Toxic better.

Also true. Being creative is fun though, at least for me. Anyway, the person who asked this question has gotten some good feedback from other people, so that's what matters. Hopefully they find use from it all.

3 Answers

1 vote

Actually, Water Pulse is the better move. Yes, Brine does 5 more damage, and can even deal double damage in some situations, but the move only has 10 PP. This will be a quite annoying factor in-game, so you are better off with Water Pulse, which does enough damage. Think about it. Would you really sacrifice 10 PP for 5 more damage?

Once you get the chance, however, Surf, Dive, and Waterfall are both better moves, as well as HMs that will help you get through the game without an HM slave.

If you mean in game (just for completing the main storyline) I think Surf would be the best option for the following reasons:
- Respectable 90 Base Power
- Perfect 100% accuracy
- A required HM move to progress
- 10 PP, much better than Hydro Pump’s terrible 5
If you can only chose from Water pulse and Brine, then I would chose Brine because:
- 5 more Base Power
- Brine only has 20% chance to confuse, and a 50% chance of making the opponent hit themselves, so you’re basically never going to have Water Pulse’s secondary effects
If you mean in competitive, then Hydro Pump for sure. That extra 30 Base Power over Surf makes plenty of Hydro Pump exclusive OHKOs.
Also, Floatzel’s attack is 30 higher than his special attack, so you might want to consider a physical water move like Waterfall, which is also an HM move required to progress in the main storyline.